


Once Upon a Time: Through the Mirrored Maze

by Omorocca



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), The Dark Tower
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:58:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/916303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omorocca/pseuds/Omorocca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story happens when David "Charming" is caught in the red room after Snow White wakes up. While he's waiting there, he'll meet many people who are stuck between worlds. Some will be friends, some will not.</p><p>I tagged "The Dark Tower"'s Roland because I don't want to spoil it for those who have not finished reading the books. Read at your own risk. If you have already read this Stephen King marvel, go ahead and read my fic. If you haven't read the saga but don't mind spoilers, I made Roland's story specific enough to be interesting (I hope) but not too detailed that someone who doesn't know this universe is too annoyed by it.</p><p>David will meet three other characters. I say nothing more about them. One is from an old enough novel to avoid spoilers and one is from a TV show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Upon a Time: Through the Mirrored Maze

Once Upon a Time

Fanfiction

Characters © OUAT writers and producers and Roland and everything assocoiated with him belongs to Stephen King 

“Through the Mirrored Maze”

 

“I’m waking up.”

 

She had vanished now and he was left all alone in this room on fire.

 

Alone, perhaps forever.

 

For there was no guarantee she would find him again and wake him up. And, as optimistic as he always was, he had to face reality. He may end up being under the sleeping curse forever.

 

David – or ‘Charming’, as he was also known – looked around him: there seemed to be no way in or out of that room and the fire roared all around him, drawing close but never burning him. He looked at the amulet he was holding; it had broken from his fall into the room.

 

_Great! That would have been really useful!_

 

He still put it back around his neck, just in case. Rumpelstiltskin’s magic was very powerful and a broken amulet could still hold some of it.

 

Looking back up the way he fell through, he wondered if he could get back to the mirrored room and think of another way out.

 

“What the…”

 

He suddenly began to doubt, panic even. A type of fear he couldn’t control that was completely irrational and insane.

 

A rope was hanging out of the hole.

 

He wasn’t alone in there.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Chapter I

The Stalker and the Visitor

 

“Hello?”

 

There was no answer. But even if there was, the noise of the fire room would have covered it. What was there left to do? At least, up there, he could try to find a way out. He grabbed the rope and climbed out of the inferno.

 

The mirror room was still empty.

 

David stepped out of the hole and looked around. The rope was stuck between two mirrors, as if they had closed on it like doors. He grabbed and rolled it in a bunch in case he’d need it again and looked at the two mirrors to see if he could pry them open.

 

They did not move. He tried pushing them, looks for hinges, nothing.

 

“Damn!”

 

He let out a sigh that was echoed by another. Surprised, he turned around, but could only see his own reflection. He felt it, however: he was being watched. David drew his attention back to the mirrors, looking for a way to open them and see what was behind. Someone, or something, had thrown him a rope to help escape the red room; maybe ‘it’ could help him again.

 

Right now, however, all it wanted to do was watch him try to do the impossible.

 

It took him time, focus and a lot of patience but he finally caught the mechanism that opened the ‘doors’. He pressed the little spring pushed the mirror and grabbed the rope before crossing the new exit.

 

Smart thinking. The mirror closed with a loud slam and locked back into position right after he’d passed.

 

“Oh, come on!”

 

He saw he was in another mirrored room, of a slightly different shape, and still stuck to find the way out. He groaned, tied the rope to his belt and grabbed one of the torches to look for another mirror with a mechanism. At least, this time, he knew what to look for. For a second, he thought he’d heard the echo of a laugh, but he didn’t try to look like he had noticed. He wouldn’t give his stalker the satisfaction of playing with him.

 

He had enough of that game with the imp back home.

 

The second time was faster than the first and a few minutes later, David had opened the doors to another room. He was about to enter it when he heard a strange noise. Like a ‘swoosh’ followed by a soft ‘pop’.

 

“Hello?” he asked out of habit.

 

This time, someone answered.

 

“Hile!” the man’s voice said.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter II

A Path With No End

 

“Hile!” That was an uncommon greeting. Perhaps of another world than the ones he knew. David felt reassured; something was telling him that this other man was like him, trapped in here, as opposed to the one who was out there, lurking.

 

“Where are you, sir?” he asked.

“‘Tis impossible to tell, ya ken. All these rooms are similar.”

 

So, this man knew the place enough to have noticed that.

 

“All right, don’t move… You’re somewhere on my left. I’ll try to get to you.”

“No worries, sai. I know the way around here.”

 

He heard the pop and a door slide open, and smash shut. Some boots. Another pop.

 

The mirror in front of him moved to reveal a man that looked fresh out of an old western movie. David’s Storybrooke memories recalled Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood. This cowboy looked like an unsettling mix of both. The two men looked at each other and the cowboy, seeing David’s gun, put his fist to his forehead as a greeting.

 

“That was fast, David said. You must have been here for quite a while.”

“I just arrived in these parts… this turn, that is. But I have gone _todash_ here before.”

“I’m sorry… I don’t know what that means.”

“When you voyage to another world, another dimension, as you would say. There’s a tribe in my world that can do it easily by a means called _todash_.”

“Oh… that would have been helpful to me. I had to go through a sleeping curse to get here.” The other man frowned. He shrugged. “Long story. By the way, I’m David.”

 

He shook hands with the man, noticing his right hand was missing two fingers.

 

“Roland Deschain, son of Steven. Be you a gunslinger as well, David?”

“A gun— Oh, well, I guess you can say that. I became a prince back in our world, then we travelled to another world and I became interim sheriff.”

“How did that come to be?”

 

Since they had nothing but time, and Roland seemed curious to hear his story, David told him about Snow White, about how he became a prince, about the curse, their daughter the Saviour and how his family was separated again. Roland listened – he was very good at that – and sometimes asked a question about the Enchanted Forest or this strange town in Maine. He’d been to Maine on a few occasions in his life, but he doubted this was in the same dimension Storybrooke was in. Roland and David also knew without ever talking about it that the ‘other one’ wasn’t missing any detail of their little chat.

 

Once David concluded with telling of his visit to the fire room, Roland seemed very surprised.

 

“I have gone _todash_ here thrice, but have never seen this place.”

“I think it’s for a different kind of curse. Snow was saved from her sleeping curse, so she only appears down there. I haven’t been saved yet, so I had to break into the room. What about you, Roland? How did you, uh, go _todash_ here?”

 

“The first time, I thought I had reached the clearing at the end of the path, ya ken.”

 

David acquiesced. He’d understood what Roland meant. The gunslinger told of his own tale, of how he had gone through many ordeals in ghost towns waiting for annihilation with his _ka-tet_ , the group who followed him on this path, a group of five beings bound by the same fate. He told of how he had taught them the way of the gun and how he had lost them one after the other, crossed many dimensions of his world until he'd reached his goal.

 

“But I was sent back. Every time I think I’ve reached the end of my journey, I’m sent back to start over.”

“Wait… are you saying you’re living your live over and over?”

“‘Tis what ka wants and it is a wheel that goes round. I am prisoner of it until I do every thing my destiny asks of me.”

 

That was a shock. Though the gunslinger’s language was different and sometimes riddled with some obscure prophetic sentences, David could understand it well and he felt for the poor man stuck in a never-ending loop.

 

“That’s horrible.”

“It is necessary. In my world, how can I tell in your words? There are rays of energy holding the different dimensions together and the rays are failing. My ka is to reach the centre of those rays and try to save them, but I know not how. Do you see me well?”

 

David paused for a second, but knew what it meant.

 

“I understand, he answered. Is there a way out for you? A way to solve that ‘ray thing’ so you can finally reach the clearing and rest?”

“Methinks there is. Every turn, I get to repair things I did wrong the first time and I ken it gets me closer to victory. Even if I forget everything each turn, some details seem to remain in my mind.”

“Like an unconscious reflex?... That’s good. I hope you succeed.”

 

Roland was about to answer “As do I”, when another strange noise came in from behind them. Like a ‘swoosh’ followed by a soft ‘pop’. They rose up to their feet – Roland even drew his gun in a flash – to witness a shape form in behind them and the mirrors move to shelter the shape from them… or to shelter them from it.

 

It was the shape of a woman.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter III

The Gunslinger, the Prince and the Witch

 

“Who was that?” Roland asked.

“No idea, David answered. I’ve never seen her before in my life. Do you think she’s cursed like us? This room seems to be for the cursed after all.”

“She could be. Let us hear her tale. Hile, Lady sai. Can you hear us?”

“Yes, I can”, she answered.

 

That voice felt like ice to the both of them. They looked at each other. ‘Now what?’ was written all over David’s eyes.

 

“Do you ken why you are here? Pe’haps we can aid thee.”

“I doubt that, she answered in a pretentious tone. I’m looking for someone else.”

“Is this person cursed as well?” David risked asking. “People who end up here usually are.”

 

The woman giggled.

 

“I’d say she’s very cursed.”

 

David suddenly felt a terrible hunch invade him. Something about the woman was oddly familiar and yet he knew he’d never met her before. Roland saw David’s problem and took the lead in the conversation.

 

“I am Roland, son of Steven, and this is—“

“Leroy, David said in a hurry. Leroy, son of… Nolan.”

“We are gunslingers, cursed to stand here for a long time and we can use this time to aid thee, sai, if you allow it. Who are you?”

 

There was a silence and a whoosh. Two of the mirrors opened and let out a woman of a certain age, but not old, dressed in purple and blue. She had opened the mirrored doors with a spell.

 

“My name is Cora.”

 

 

 

The two men stood silent for a while. David stared for the first time in his life at the mother of the Evil Queen. The woman who made Regina into a sociopath before she tried to better herself for Henry. The woman who was now trying to hurt his wife and daughter in the remains of their home world.

 

She stared back at him.

 

“What is it, gunslinger? You’ve never seen magic before?”

“… not in here. I thought we were cursed to be _trapped_ here and I never considered someone could keep their powers in here.”

“Leroy is right, Roland intervened. ‘Tis the third time I’ve gone _todash_ here and I had yet to meet someone who could use magic.”

“That’s because the people here are cursed, Cora answered. And I am not.”

“Then…” David began, but she interrupted him.

“I put a spell on someone who was to send her into deep sleep and took control of her mind. It was rather simple.”

“You just hitched a ride here… to find a cursed person?” The witch nodded; David went on carefully. “Who’s that person?”

“That is none of your business.”

 

She raised a hand to get rid of them with a spell when a voice, a whisper, came in behind her and made her twitch.

 

“Snow White.”

 

Cora turned around to look at the voice, but nothing. Roland shrugged, his gun still in his hand, while David drew his own.

 

“We had guessed it, the gunslinger said, but the Ghost cannot help but run his mouth, if a mouth he has.”

“The Ghost?” Cora asked with more sarcasm than worry.

“That is how he names himself. He sees all that happens here. And he is right: Snow White has indeed gone _todash_ here before, but a long time ago.”

“She should be here right now.”

“Only the cursed are here, ya ken, David answered. Snow White has awakened from the curse and now goes _todash_ to the room below us. She left that place as well.”

 

Whatever that word really meant in all its subtleties, he thought prudent to use the same vocabulary as Roland to appear from the same world, so Cora would not suspect who he was.

 

“Then I guess I’ll just have to find this other room”, Cora said, raising her hands again.

 

As she was sending a wave to push them away, both Roland and David began shooting at her, with little success. Their guns flew away from their hands and the gunslinger and the prince crashed into the mirrors that exploded around them. Cora smiled and walked to David, ignoring Roland that seemed unconscious on the ground. With a spell, she made him rise and she jabbed her right hand through his chest.

 

“Where is Snow White now?”

 

He groaned in pain, but struggled to stay silent. It was tremendously hard. She squeezed his heart in a firmer grip.

 

“Answer me, Leroy!”

 

The name ‘Leroy’ woke him up enough to think. He could still play her if he only knew how to do it. He thought of Rumpelstiltskin and of how he always told the truth but always managed to keep his plans hidden. ‘ _Choose your words carefully._ ’

 

“She… she woke up and disappeared… like I told you.”

“Did she speak to the little boy?”

 

That one was easy to answer.

 

“No.”

 

He said nothing more. In the corner of his eye, he saw one of the mirrors move in like an accordion and hide Roland behind it. Roland who was fully conscious and who was slowly moving for his gun. In a few seconds, he would be ready to attack.

 

“Did she talk to anyone?” Cora asked.

“Y- yes!”

 

Crap! Luckily, Roland had reached his gun and was ready to intervene. A subtle nod between the two men was enough to get things moving.

 

“Who did she talk to?” Cora continued.

“Me!”

 

In one single movement, Roland shot at Cora while kicking the other gun to David, unnoticed. Cora turned to deal with this distraction, losing her grip on David who fell away from her, grabbed his gun and began shooting at her as well. The witch blocked their shots for a few seconds, but the surprise of the attack caught her off guard. Also, Roland’s first shots had harmed her and she needed to heal herself. She disappeared in a cloud of purple and blue smoke.

 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter IV

The Walls Have Ears

 

“What was that?”

 

Roland had not seen that kind of magic much. Sure, there was his worst enemy who was a very powerful mage; there had been the Skin Man in the past, but nothing of the sort. Maybe it was because the rays were failing to hold his world together, so magic would weaken as well.

 

“I have never seen someone so powerful, he said. To hold us both like this, disarm us and to _grab your heart_ … Only pe’haps the Red King could have done that, but even he is limited.”

“Well, if you think she’s strong, you should meet Rumpelstiltskin. I’m sure the Dark One would have lots of fun in here.”

“Where do you think she went?”

“ _The fire room of course!_ ”

 

They both twitched. It was the Ghost’s voice that had spoken. Not a whisper this time, but a man’s voice and he had an accent David couldn’t decipher.

 

“All right! I think we can stop playing games. You just helped us three times; I think it’s safe to assume we can trust each other. Why don’t you show yourself?”

“You’re wasting your time, Roland answered. I’ve asked him that many a time, without success.”

 

Suddenly, there was something else. The ground trembled, a result of Cora doing god-knew-what in the room below them.

 

“By Gan! You have your hands full with this one, David!”

“She’s Regina’s mother. We had a long practice run with the daughter.”

“A mighty training it was. Not to mention dealing with this Dark One person.”

 

He thought of his own enemies, Martin Broadcloak and his many other incarnations, the Red King and his minions, this creature born of a demon he was also the father of… he’d try to avoid that the next turn around. That thing had caused a lot of damage that could have been prevented. That spider creature had also killed a member of his team and every time that happened, Roland felt responsible.

 

“Sorry to drag my own problems up here, David said. You obviously have enough demons behind and ahead of you.”

“No need to cry pardon, David, son of—“

“Roland, what’s happening to you?”

 

The gunslinger’s voice was but a murmur and his shape seemed less and less defined. As his own world had finished resetting, he would have to leave.

 

“I am being born is what is happening, David, son of…”

“Father of Emma.”

 

Roland smiled. It was very unfit to call a man anything less than as the child of his father, or mother in a rare occasion. But Emma was like him, a prophesised child, and David put her before his lineage and all protocol. Steven, though, would have never called himself ‘father of Roland’, no matter how much he cherished his son. A tear left Roland’s eye. That’s a detail he was sad to know he’d forget about… until the next time his journey would bring him here.

 

Beneath them, the floor was still shaking. The mirrors rattled and one of them exploded into a million pieces. They paid it no mind.

 

“Good bye then, David, father of Emma.”

“Goodbye, my friend. And good luck.”

 

There was a bright light and Roland vanished from the room. Off to live another cursed life, forgetting everything once more. David swore to himself he wouldn’t forget this strange man he had grown so found of.

 

_My friend._

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter V

Burn the Witch

 

Once Roland was gone, David looked around him at the wrecked room. Cora would soon be done with her search of the fire room and would try to get back at him. Unless, she simply left to get back to hunting Snow and Emma in the real world.

 

_In that case, I have to keep her here for as long as possible._

 

He went to the mirror that had moved to hide Roland a few minutes earlier and opened it to go to another room.

 

“Ghost... Are you in here?”

 

Nothing.

 

“Please, I need your help. I know you’ve heard everything Roland and I talked about. And you’ve guessed just as we did that Cora was here to try to kill Snow. I need you to help me keep her here.”

 

A whoosh behind him; Cora was back in the other room. Soon, she’d find him and he’d better have a plan.

 

“You won’t hide from me very long, prince. I may have missed a chance to kill Snow White in her sleep, but I can make sure her true love never wakes.”

“ _How interesting. Tell me more!_ ”

 

The Ghost’s voice again, and the accent… a French accent. It was a few rooms away and Cora broke a mirror in half to reach it. The little pieces fell on the ground with tremendous noise.

 

“You again? Where are you?”

“Right here, he answered. A few rooms ahead, more on your left… Will you please stop breaking my mirrors? The noise in insufferable.”

 

David thought of following them to listen to their conversation, but as he was doing just that, a hand grabbed his forearm.

 

A cold, bony hand.

 

He turned, his gun pointed at the face of the intruder and almost screamed.

 

“Not a good idea, David, father of Emma, the man whispered. Cora will hear the shot and know where you are.”

 

The same accent. It was him… it. Though the Ghost had a masculine shape, his body was not that of a man. It was a life skeleton on which the gods had thrown a disgusting bone-coloured skin with yellow accents. A live jaundiced cadaver is what it was. Except he was dressed like an old-fashioned gentleman.

 

“Stop toying with me!” Cora screamed.

“I would never ‘toy’ with a lady, his voice answered. You’re almost there.”

 

The voice was with Cora and the Ghost’s body was right in front of David.

 

“Come with me” the Ghost whispered.

“How do you do that?” the prince asked in a similar whisper.

“A true magician never reveals his secrets.” And he opened another mirror, making David follow him.

 

They left the succession of rooms and walked into a labyrinth of mirrors. David followed the Ghost in silence, trying to understand why he was so familiar. Could this ‘man’ have come from the Enchanted Forest?

 

“I believe we are far enough away from the witch to talk. You have asked for my help to keep her in here. Why not to make her leave?”

“Because, as long as she’s here, she can’t harm my family.”

 

The Ghost paused, and then took a sudden right turn.

 

“So, you are telling me this Cora has the power to harm your family in the same world but instead, she prefers to come here and risk being trapped until her cursed ‘host’ awakens?”

 

He smiled and David wished he hadn’t. Seeing a skeleton’s face smile was terrible. In his sunken orbits, his eyes that had remained invisible since then began to shine. If death had a face, that would be it.

 

“ _Diantre! Elle est désespérée!_ ”

“Yes, she is. Desperate to destroy them to get to Storybrooke first and destroy everyone else, her own daughter included.”

 

The skull was serious again.

 

“I can keep her busy here so she does not try to waken her host. However, once that person awakens on their own…”

“Aurora. We believe she’s captured her.”

“Of course! She has been here a long time, the poor princess. I often thought of comforting her but, alas.” He made a hand gesture towards his face. “I would have scared her a lot more. We did talk, however. She reminded me of a woman I once knew, ages ago.”

 

He had a brief sigh of sadness and flipped back to being serious. David frowned. The constant change of mood was unsettling.

 

“How long do you believe you will stay here?”

“Until Snow wakes me… it could be a while. Can Cora really kill us in here?”

“She can kill _you_ , yes! I, for my part, am already dead.”

“Which is why you call yourself the Ghost?”

“Yes… and no. The good news is, if she can kill you, you can also kill her.”

“Really? How?”

“The means are limited, and she has magic that makes your bullets and my… techniques useless. So, I suggest we burn her.”

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter VI

Keep Your Hand at the Level of your Eyes

 

Cora had broken another mirror, out of fury, and both David and the Ghost heard the pieces shatter.

 

“Pardon me while I go deal with this woman”, the Ghost said while opening a door in the mirror labyrinth to project his voice through the room where Cora was. “I thought I had told you to stop breaking my mirrors.”

“And I thought you said you wouldn’t toy with a lady”, she answered.

 

He laughed. Both David and Cora felt their blood freeze in their veins. The laughter filled every room in the maze.

 

“I never once implied you _were_ a lady, Cora. So far, you have tried to murder two of my guests and have done much damage to my home. Tsk-tsk-tsk… not very fit of a lady.”

“I have no time for civilities, Ghost, she answered sternly. You wished to know about my plans; was it to help or to be a nuisance?”

 

David saw the Ghost stretch a hand and pull a lever that had remained hidden. The familiar sound of the mirrors moving followed.

 

“What are you doing?” he whispered.

“You can come closer and look. You will see her but she will not see you.”

 

David walked closer to the Ghost and looked through a little opening in front of them. Through many mirrors especially aligned, he could see Cora in another room and the mirrors move all around her, creating a new maze every second. She seemed to panic for a few seconds, not knowing what kind of magic that was. The Ghost spoke to her once more and his voice made her jump. It was right beside her.

 

“I am willing to help, of course. It gets so boring here and I would not mind the entertainment. However, once the prince is dead and you will have gone, all I will be left with are your damages to my home. I would propose to do this battle with the prince somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“We cannot go above… only souls who have reached a higher plane of existence may enter. I have not yet managed to ascend, have you?”

“I guess you want to go to the room below us, then.”

“Well, His Highness has already opened a door for us.”

 

Cora smiled. In that room, she’d have an advantage. She could make herself safe from the fire and use it to corner and kill the prince. Then, she would only have to get rid of this ‘Ghost’ before leaving.

 

“I think it’s a great idea… on one condition.”

“There always is one”, the Ghost answered as the mirrors stopped moving.

“Show yourself. I’m not going to talk to nothing but my reflexion any longer.”

“Oh… tense, aren’t we?”

 

For only answer, Cora broke another mirror with a fireball. The Ghost turned to David with a horrible smile.

 

“Let us see if my acting skills are still good enough. I’ll lead her there and all you have to do is follow from a distance. I shall have my gibbet, thank you.”

 

David gave him the lasso, having pieced it all together. The cadaver appearance, the rope, the voice, the mirrors. A story he’d never read but was common knowledge in the world Storybrooke had stumbled into, though distorted by every one of its adaptations, just like the stories of his own world were.

 

“Wish me luck, David”, the Ghost giggled.

“Good luck… Erik.”

 

The Ghost startled and then smiled, before disappearing through a mirror.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter VII

Faust and Mephistopheles

 

The mirrors moved again around Cora, and she could see it for herself: a walking cadaver with no eyes and a demonic smile. Had she believed in hell, she would have thought he was going to take her there.

 

“The Ghost, I presume.”

 

He bowed elegantly and for a second, Cora remembered how she met Rumpelstiltskin. A scary-looking man behaving like a gentleman as well as a monster. Except this time she wouldn’t allow herself to be seduced by the beast.

 

“Indeed I am, Cora.”

 

The Ghost offered her his hand, but she ignored it.

 

“Where’s the prince now?”

“Looking for a way to get back to this infernal room, hoping his princess will return so he can warn her about the evil witch. The writer has turned the page, waiting for us to join in the fairy tale. _N’est-ce pas merveilleux?_ ”

 

He had spoken in such a lyrical fashion, making fun of the whole situation, as well as of Cora. But, before she could tell him to go to hell, he had become serious again. Too serious.

 

“This is a good thing, since we will be waiting there for him. Once the trap is set, catching the pray will be child play.”

“I hope it is as easy as you say. My daughter has tried many times to get rid of this man and his love and they always managed to slip through her fingers.”

“mmh… love is an extremely powerful thing. It can overcome monsters, make angels cry and make the cursed feel saved with only one look from their beloved.”

 

Again with the lyrical. As they were walking towards the entrance of the fire room, Cora felt the need to shut him up.

 

“Love is nothing but a weakness.”

“If you believe that, it is no wonder your own child wishes you dead.”

 

And he laughed; this terrible laugh that hurt Cora’s heartless soul. Behind them, David had a moment of panic. What if _he_ was the one being played by the Opera Ghost?

 

 

 

Once they had reached the room, Erik left Cora there for a while, to go down with the use of her own powers, while he was getting the prince.

 

“I shall return with the person you want as soon as I humanely can… which is ironic, considering how human I am.”

 

There was something terrifying in his voice and Cora felt her blood freeze once more. She could hardly hold her impatience any longer.

 

“Enough games. Just bring me the prince, if you can really do it, that is.”

“You shall know, my dear that I can do whatever I want in here.”

 

And he left her there to get ready, also knowing she would plan to hurt him as well. Well, good luck with that, he thought. And he smiled once more, his eyes glistening in the dark.

 

Waiting for him, not far away, David saw a pair of glowing eyes float towards him in a haste. Now that he knew who he was dealing with, this didn’t scare him as much. Those golden eyes were, after all, more of an enchanting feature than a troubling one.

 

“The witch is waiting for us in Hell. Shall we proceed?”

“Wait a minute there, Erik. This room is frightening, I’ll give you that… and it can physically harm you, but I don’t know how to use any of that to my advantage. Do you?”

“I have never been in that room before, _mon cher_. However, I know fire quite well and this one is enchanted.”

“Precisely, and Cora’s a witch so she’ll use it against me.”

“She will most certainly try.”

“Will you…” David sighed and massaged his head. “You said you would help. Do you really have a plan or are you just toying with me?”

“A little of both, I am afraid.”

 

Erik lowered his head and his skeleton face had a sad expression; sad, yet full of wit.

 

“An old habit of mine; but you know that already if you know me.”

“I know only a few details. I never read the book.”

“What book?”

“The one based on your life. I’m guessing you’re from the same world Storybrooke is in since the Opera where you lived exists there… but I’ve always thought your story was a modern fairy tale.”

“Says the shepherd prince who married Snow White.”

 

They shared a laughter that seemed to quiet down their mood. Then, Erik told of his plan.

 

“Cora will try to use this room’s magic against you, but she knows not how it works.”

“Neither do I.”

“But you know someone who does.” The Ghost pointed to the amulet around David’s neck. “You told Roland that your grandson gave you this so you can keep the fire from hurting you.”

“Gold—uh, Rumpelstiltskin made it for him. It worked well, until my fall into the room broke it.”

“To my knowledge, a thing does not stop working once it has broken. It is simply less efficient. You believe it as well, David, or you would not still be wearing the amulet.”

“You’re right! I’ve seen Rumpelstiltskin’s magic. It’s stronger than that, stronger than Cora.”

“You will know how to use it to corner Cora in the fire room and, once you succeed, I’ll close the trap. Either she finds her way back to the Forest – and if she does, she will be weaker and powerless to harm your family – or she burns in Hell where she belongs.”

 

David seemed unsure of that ending. He wanted to trap her, to stop her but this? Killing someone in self-defence or to save someone in distress was still honourable. Sentencing someone to death after every other option has failed was terrible but still legitimate and ethical enough. However, this plan sounded more like premeditated murder. Could his conscience survive?

 

“… I can’t.”

“ _Je vous demande pardon?_ ”

“I can’t do that. To kill someone like this… it’s immoral!”

“You would lose if you were to face her on equal grounds, not to mention she will probably cheat at the game.”

“I’d lose a lot more if I were to murder her.”

“She will murder your whole family, if you do not.”

“You think I don’t know that? I’d trade my life to keep my family safe. But doing this won’t just take my life. It will take my soul! What if I were to become soulless like her? I can’t risk doing to my family what she’s done to hers. She murdered the man her daughter loved, broke the woman’s heart and made her a monster, to a point of cursing an entire world out of spite. I cannot risk it. It feels like I’m making a deal with the devil.”

 

Erik cracked up in laughter.

 

“Calm down, Faust! We will try it your way first, only trying to trap her and fight on equal grounds. When it fails – and I fear it will – you will know you at least tried. I’ll do the rest and your soul will remain intact.”

“What about yours?”

“It is already broken beyond repair. But, like I said, a thing does not stop working once it is broken.”

“It’s simply less efficient.”

 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter VIII

Fire and Ice

 

Cora was waiting, ready to attack Snow White’s husband, anticipating her victory and yet doubting this ‘Ghost’ would be able to deliver him to her, when she suddenly saw a rope drop from the hole of the ceiling into the room. A few seconds later, David’s feet followed.

 

She remained silent and waited until it was too late for him to get back up. Then, she stepped forward, pushing the flames away from her.

 

“I’ve been expecting you.”

 

 

 

Upstairs, by the hole, Erik waited until it was his turn to intervene. All his ‘tricks’ were ready and he was more than willing to use them. He was so focused that he didn’t hear the faint sound behind him, like a ‘swoosh’ followed by a soft ‘pop’, indicating a new visitor was ‘coming’ into the labyrinth. And the sound of mirrors moving never reached his ears, because the noise downstairs became too loud.

 

 

 

Cora used all her power on shoving that fire on the prince who, trusting Rumpelstiltskin’s magic, managed to keep safe from it and slowly control it. A wall of fire soon surrounded her, blinding her, but not hurting her. She understood he would not fight her, only keep her prisoner.

 

“Why won’t you fight me? Are you afraid?”

“Yes, Cora, I’m afraid for my wife and my daughter. I’m afraid what will happen to them if I let you go.”

“Because you think you can keep me here?”

 

She chuckled and tried to disappear in her usual cloud of smoke, but was stuck there, stuck by the amulet’s magic in the middle of that ring of fire.

 

“How…”

 

She was a prisoner there until Aurora woke up on her own. That could take hours; hours Snow White and her daughter would have at their disposal to distance themselves from her. There was no other way. Her anger grew as strong as panic allowed it, just as David, knowing he had won, proceeded to climb back up the rope.

 

“Where are you going?” Cora shouted, throwing a fireball his way.

 

The flames passed by his head and made him fall back down.

 

 

 

Upstairs, Erik saw it and groaned. What he had guessed had happened: Cora would be contained but only if David remained down there, constantly using the amulet’s magic against her. The moment he would do something else, she would cheat her way out and the wall would falter. The only way for David to win, was to cheat.

 

It was his time to act.

 

 

 

David controlled the fire once more and trapped Cora in a corner, using all his might. When he tried to get back upstairs, he knew what Erik had done.

 

The rope was gone.

 

“Erik! Lower the rope!”

“ _Impossible, mon ami_. If you leave this room, so will she. You need to keep her here for as long as you can. That is what fighting on equal grounds with a cheater will do to you.”

“That’s what your plan was? To lock us up in here until Aurora wakes up?”

“Careful, behind you!”

 

In the arguing, he had lost his focus on the room and Cora was throwing a firestorm against the wall he’d made around her. David closed his eyes and concentrated hard. The storm eventually vanished and he got the upper hand again.

 

‘ _Gotta remember to thank Gold when I wake up. This is powerful stuff._ ’

 

But again, even that power had its limits. He looked back up at the trap. There seemed to be no one there.

 

“Erik?”

 

A pair of glowing eyes appeared in the hole.

 

“That’s it? You’re just going to leave us here to burn?”

“Worry not, Father of the Saviour, I have another plan. It will, however, require bending some rules.”

 

And he closed the trap the hole had made.

 

 

 

The sound echoed into the mirror room and many of the looking glasses shook from the sound. That’s how Erik saw him.

 

“Ah! You’re back!”

 

Roland walked to him, his gun pointing at the supernatural creature he was seeing for the first time in this place.

 

“What have you done to David, Ghost?”

“Enchanted to meet you as well, gunslinger. I would shake your hand, but I see you have managed to wound it again.”

 

Indeed, he was still missing two fingers on his right hand, but this time around, he seemed in better shape. For someone who had died, that was.

 

“What have you done to David?”

“I have done nothing… yet. He is down there, keeping Cora trapped and waiting for me.”

“You trapped him in there, alone with this heartless woman? Have you no honour?”

“That happens to be one of the few virtues I do possess, Roland of Gilead. The prince is in there because it is the only way he can keep the witch trapped without dishonouring himself in cheating. I suggested she burned, he refused and I may not agree with his decision but I do respect it.”

 

While saying that, he walked to another mirror, opened it without effort, and looked at a trap lying on the floor.

 

“No one knows of this way in. It is the only official entrance to the room below. There is another one like this one, leading above but we are not allowed to use it.”

 

He opened the trap and immediately, the heat of the inferno attacked their skin. Erik paid it no mind and tied his rope to the door of the trap.

 

“Cora cheats the rules but our friend insists on obeying them. I do not have the same moral code.”

“Do you even have one? Or have you forgotten the face of your father?”

 

Erik paused and then chuckled.

 

“If I have, he’s never forgotten mine.”

 

And with a laugh, he jumped into the hole.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter IX

The Face of Death

 

David’s strength was failing more and more and soon, he would lose his control of the room’s magic. Cora felt it and doubled the power of her attacks on him. Slowly but surely, she managed to step out of her corner and closer to him, not seeing a shadow move to her left.

 

“You are losing, she said. At last, my daughter won’t have to suffer your existence anymore.”

 

The moment she was about to plunge her hand through his chest, David was pulled back by a three-fingered hand and dragged out of the room.

 

“Nooo!” Cora screamed, throwing a fireball their way.

 

But Roland and David were already out of the room. She tried running after them, but a wall of fire appeared in front of her.

 

“And where do you think you are going?”

 

His voice. She turned to find the Ghost behind her, holding David’s amulet. How he managed to take it without being seen was the least of her concerns.

 

“You! This was all your doing.” Erik bowed and it made Cora even more furious. “Very well… then _you_ will pay the price.”

 

And she plunged her hand through Erik’s chest.

 

…

 

“What?”

 

She stared at her hand, not understanding why her heart-trick wasn’t working. In front of her, Erik looked almost apologetic.

 

“What were you hoping to achieve, killing me?”

“Yes!”

“Well, that will not work. I’m already dead… and I now control this little corner of Hell.”

 

With a laugh that even resonated through the labyrinth, he ‘closed the trap’ around Cora. Fire surrounded them and slowly began reaching for her dress.

 

That’s when it hit Cora’s mind; the possibility she would die before Aurora woke up.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter X

Never Sleep Again

 

The scream of the witch followed the ghost’s insane laughter to the labyrinth where David was catching his breath.

 

“Y- you… you’re back already!”

“I lived a full life and have reached the end once more, Roland answered. A lifespan in my world is only a few hours here.”

“I’m glad you got here in time. You saved my life, thank you.”

“I wish ‘twere all me, my friend, but it was the Ghost’s plan.”

“Yeah, I know… I wonder what he’s doing in there.”

“Are you sure you wish to ken, David, father of Emma?”

 

The gunslinger had a smile. He was glad to remember this detail once more.

 

“No… If I were to find out, I fear I would never sleep again.”

“I see you very well, for I feel the same.”

“So…” David got up and looked about him. “I guess we stay here until Erik is done with… whatever he’s doing.”

 

A part of him wanted to go back and make sure no one ended up dead, but it was now the Ghost’s game. Erik had respected his choice to try the fair way; David had to now return the favour.

 

“It could take some time, Roland said. Be you aware there’s another room above us?”

“Yeah, for those who have – what is the word he used – ascended to a higher level of existence.”

“I once saw one of the keepers of that place. She was escorting a soul out, more like removing it from above, ya ken. I heard the ghost speak to her.”

“You mean, this being could know how to free us from here?”

“You pe’haps. But as for myself, I know not how.”

“There’s something from the world I’m living in… if she exists on a higher level, she might know how to free you from ‘reincarnation’ for a lack of a better word.”

 

Roland’s eyes lit up with hope.

 

“And maybe she can get you to waken from your curse.”

 

 

 

Since the way downstairs was closed until Erik decided otherwise, the gunslinger and the prince left the rope there and went to search for the other trap.

 

“So, David wondered, did you make some changes in this turn?”

“Aye. Some horrors I couldn’t avoid, but I did make some progress.”

 

He told of this creature he had fathered with a demon every single life around. And every time, it had killed a member of his team. The monster still came to life, but he had managed to kill it sooner before his friend had to die. One more had been saved from death to help him longer on his journey.

 

“That’s great. Saving a life, that’s real progress.”

“Not enough, if you see me well.”

“Yeah, I do see you… It may not make a huge difference in the Universe, but it did in your quest, didn’t it?”

 

Roland nodded. It had made a difference. And, as every other turn, the creature had killed, eaten, another of his enemies, getting him rid of two obstacles as one.

 

They kept on looking for the second trap when a voice echoed around them.

 

“You are not allowed in these parts.”

 

Erik’s voice. But they didn’t feel his stare, like he was just projecting it from afar, as a warning. He was, after all, very busy elsewhere.

 

They were on the right track.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter XI

The Mother

 

A few moments later, they had found it: a glass trap shining bright on the blackness that served as a ceiling. It seemed yards away, floating, like an illusion.

 

“Now what?” David asked.

 

Roland had no answer. Around them, there was nothing they could use to reach the trap.

 

“Too bad I left Erik’s rope in the other room. We could have used it here and brought it back—”

“There is no need”, Roland answered, pointing at the ceiling.

 

The trap was indeed shining brighter and brighter. Soon, the whole room began glowing as well; the light reflected in the mirrors all around them, blinded them.

 

Roland had drawn his gun but hesitated to use it against a superior being. And whatever was coming towards them didn’t look threatening. It looked, and felt, magnificent. The light took shape and after a few seconds, a woman was standing in front of them. Not a being of light, but a real woman who looked at the two men with a benevolent smile.

 

“Is this the woman you spoke of, Roland? The one who banished someone from the room upstairs?”

“I believe she is… but she doesn’t look the same now. She looks… human.”

“ _Lightning flashes, sparks shower and in one blink of an eye, you have missed seeing._ ”

 

The woman had spoken. David blinked rapidly, unsure of what it really meant.

 

“I’m sorry, what?”

“We cry pardon, Roland said. We seek a lady who has ‘ascended’ to a higher plane of existence.”

“ _There are many levels of existence, both above and below us, and many more between them._ ”

“We aren’t certain of on which level this lady is. We only ken, or we hope, she as access to a means of helping us out.”

“Roland is stuck reliving the same life over and over, David explained. In the world I live, some people believe there is a way out of this never-ending loop by ascending, but maybe there are other ways as well. Maybe she can—maybe you can help break the loop.”

 

She smiled and David knew it meant she was the one they were looking for.

 

“ _And what do you seek_ ”, she asked David.

“A way to wake from a sleeping curse, so I can warn my family of a danger coming. We have nothing to offer in return, I’m afraid. I don’t think your level needs gunslingers.”

 

She had a quiet laugh. Very soft and caring, like their own mothers had when both of them were children.

 

“ _No, we do not. But you can give a lot more than you think you can… David._ ”

“You know who I am?... What do you mean, we can give more than we think?”

 

She stayed silent.

 

“I know Roland’s given his whole life many times to save his world and all the others attached to it.”

“ _His life is of flesh and blood. What has Roland given his existence to?_ ”

 

Now it was their turn to stay silent, not sure of the subtleties of that question. But Roland was good at riddles, better than David. They were serious business in his world, a test of someone’s might. David on his end got the question, but had no idea how to answer it.

 

“ _If you wish to ascend, you cannot do it by escaping death._ ”

 

Another puzzle piece. But Roland knew it wasn’t about constant death. On the contrary, he would have welcomed death. An end and finally, some rest.

 

“I wish not to escape death, Lady sai, but only to save what remains of my world. I wish this to be definite and reach the clearing at the end of the path, knowing I did what ka wanted.”

“ _Is that your sole motivation?_ ”

 

While asking that, she seemed to search through Roland’s soul. He bowed his head. A life of pain does leave its imprint in the soul and he had had more than one life.

 

“I believe not in revenge, he said softly. But a servant of the Red King has destroyed my family and I do wish I could make him pay.”

“ _The servant or the master?_ ”

“… both!”

“ _Revenge is a dark alley that clouds your soul’s true path._ ”

“I barely know which road to take until I’m on it.”

“ _All roads lead to the great path. It is how you embark on the journey that changes the outcome._ ”

“I think I understand. I just don’t know how to do this.”

“ _If you immediately know the candlelight is fire, the meal was cooked a long time ago._ ”

“… I cry pardon?”

 

She did not explain but smiled at her riddle, and they could see mischievous wrinkles appear around her eyes.

 

“ _You’ll figure it out._ ”

 

As she said that, Roland began to slowly vanish, as he was being reborn once more. David got closer to him, shook his hand to wish him luck.

 

“ _Good luck_ ”, the woman said. “ _And remember: you will always find your path. All you can choose is the road that leads you to it._ ”

“I shall try. Thankee-sai. Good bye once more, David, father of Emma.”

“Good bye, Roland.”

 

They could barely hold their tears this time. They knew they would never see each other again. Something they could feel in their souls. Once the gunslinger had disappeared, the lady looked at David with a comforting smile.

 

“ _He will make it. If not in this life, then soon._ ”

“I know.”

“ _His soul is strong and good… just as yours is._ ”

“How come you know so much about us?”

“ _I am a good observer, just like the ghost is. However, if he is willing to play the villain so you can be the hero, I am bound by the laws of my kind to stand and watch only. Technically, I should not even be talking to you until you are ready to ascend._ ”

“You’re bending the rules, but never breaking them.”

 

She laughed. Her laughter made him feel safer.

 

“ _Something like that. Just like you, I choose to use my talents to help those who need it. However, I have to be careful on how I interfere with the course of your lives._ ”

“Can you… help me? I have to wake up to help half of my family save the other half.”

 

Her smile vanished.

 

“ _I cannot. I wish I could because you are a truly good person. You wanted to help your friend and put him first even though you need help as well. You even refused to harm your enemy unless you had no other choice. However, to help you, I would have to use my powers… my magic, as you call it, and it is strictly forbidden. You will have to wait for your love to waken you._ ”

“I understand… What about Erik? Since he’s dead, he shouldn’t be here. Can you help him out?”

“ _He chose his own path. Again, I cannot help, only counsel._ ” She looked somewhere behind David. “ _But I think there’s a reason he chose to let you see him and I feel you hold the key to helping him. It is, after all, something you are good at._ ”

“How can he help?” Erik asked. “He cannot show me the door to the afterlife. He would have to be dead himself to do so.”

 

David turned to see him standing there. That meant Cora was either gone or dead. The look of disappointment on Erik’s face told David that Aurora had woken up, allowing Cora to escape.

 

“ _I can only point the path, not walk it with you._ ”

 

It was the lady’s last words. She turned back into a being of light and flew back up the trap to the room of the ascended beings, leaving the two men with their questions.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Chapter XII

Back from Hell

 

Cora woke up in a panic. Never in years had she felt such terror. In the box next to her, her heart was beating rapidly. She sat up and looked around herself, not remembering where she was.

 

“I’m alive?”

 

The cavern around her became familiar again. She touched the box her heart was in, feeling it slow down to a regular beat. In the other room, she had left Aurora unconscious and alone. If Cora was finally awake, so was she.

 

‘I’ll have to make sure she doesn’t try to escape’, she thought.

 

In trying to stand up, she felt a strange mix of weakness and nausea. She thought she would throw up and her heart began beating irregularly again. What had he done to her in that room to leave her so broken?

 

Powerless?

 

That was it. Cora began to panic once more. What if she had lost all of her power in there? She would lose the battle and remain here in this wasteland to die. Her only ally was gone; she had left him after he’d tricked her. She would be all alone and without magic, even Aurora would win in a fight against her.

 

Slowly, she raised a shaking hand and concentrated her will on making a small rock fly. An easy task that took all of her might. But the rock flew.

 

She sighed in relief and sat back down. At least her power wasn’t all gone. Her weakness was temporary. She stayed on her seat for a few minutes, calming down and trying a few easy spells until she felt strong enough to walk to the next room and check on her prisoner.

 

Aurora was gone.

 

Hook had made her escape.

 

The rage was enough to make her dark powers stronger and she shoved him against a wall, immobilizing him to preserve her own energy on keeping him up. She would kill him because he had betrayed her again, and she would do it before he’d realise she could barely stand up.

 

“Look in my satchel.”

 

A heart. He had taken Aurora’s heart and was now offering it to her as a proof of his loyalty. She smiled in satisfaction and released him. With this gift, she would be able to use Aurora once more and take her time to recover from her trip to hell. And if something else went wrong in the meantime, she would have Hook to help her again.

 

This time, she was certain she would succeed.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter XIII

Sympathy for a Devil

 

“What do you think she meant by ‘I hold the key’ to helping you?” David asked.

 

Erik had a little sarcastic laugh.

 

“Perhaps, by helping you, it will cleanse my soul and I will escape my own hell… However I highly doubt it.”

“What about ‘he chose his own path’? She seemed to think you asked to be here.”

“In a manner of speaking, I believe I did.”

“What did you do?”

“You have not read _my book_ , he answered maliciously. So I will give you the ending: I let myself die.”

“As in… you killed yourself?”

“I lost the little desire to live I had left and gave up the battle. All Death had to do was to pick up the body. My soul was already dead.”

“That’s why you’re here, David realised. In a way, you cursed yourself.”

“It wasn’t my choice, _mon cher_.”

“I’m not saying you asked for it. But you gave up trying to save yourself from your own curse. Maybe it’s because you felt like you deserved it, which is why you’re still trapped. But now you’ve helped me, you saved my life and by slowing Cora down, you’ve saved my family as well. Maybe that’s what the lady meant. It’ll help you redeem yourself.”

“I did not help you only to win my small piece of Paradise. I did it because it pleased me.”

“Better than nothing, ha! It’s the small steps that count.”

 

They shared a laugh. David could see Erik was not an evil person but rather someone who had lived a lot of pain and who had ended up making bad choices because of it. Like he knew Rumpelstiltskin was. Like he knew Regina once was too, when Snow’s love for her still meant something.

 

“You are a truly strange man, David. Good men usually try to avoid me. Some even tried to fight me.”

“I know someone like you, back in my world. Someone who’s got a good heart but who’s so used to darkness that he can never fully redeem himself. But he’s found someone to help him try. She loves him and I believe she’ll help the man control the beast instead of the other way around.”

“It must be wonderful to have such a love to draw out the best in you”, Erik said softly.

“Didn’t you have someone you loved like that?”

“I had. I loved her to the point of losing my mind. But, unlike your friend, the monster in me took over and drove the poor woman away. At least, she found happiness with a man who could love her like she deserved it.”

 

David felt for the poor man, just like he did when Rumpelstiltskin spoke of losing his love. Seeing the man behind the monster was unsettling.

 

They walked back to Erik’s personal quarters in the labyrinth in absolute silence. David felt his time in here was getting shorter and he had to make it count. Once they had reached the room, Erik sat down and told David the most unusual confession a dead man can make a living one.

 

“If you are the one who holds the key to my resting in peace, I believe I am in good hands.”

“… thanks!”

“You are most welcome. I believe I shall have to help everyone who passes through here, as I have helped you, until my piece of heaven is earned. I may as well be stuck here forever… unless the lady finally decides I deserve to visit her world.”

 

Another one of those mentally unstable laughs. David interrupted it before it made him uncomfortable once more.

 

“I owe you a lot so, once I get out, if I ever find a way to get you out as well, I will do it. If you promise me one thing…”

“I swear on my true love’s soul I will not trap anyone else in hell again”, Erik said in a theatrical manner.

“ha… well, that too. But promise me, if Roland returns, every time he returns, that you will help him do whatever it takes to save him.”

“An easy enough promise to make. I give you my word.”

“And I give you mine. If I find a way, I will help you out of here.”

 

They shook hands. Never in his whole life had David felt that a deal would weigh so much on him.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chapter XIV

Bon voyage!

 

It didn’t take too long after that promise for David to waken up. He felt it happen and so did Erik.

 

“Bon voyage!” he said while slipping the amulet back in the prince’s hand.

 

David didn’t have the time to answer. The fog cleared all around him; he was already awake and could see his dearest Snow White’s face in front of his.

 

“You found me”, he said, out of breath.

“Did you ever doubt I would?” she asked with a smile, repeating the words he had used when he had saved her from that same curse.

 

That day ended up at Granny’s where everybody talked, exchanged stories, celebrated. David shared his own tale and Henry thought it was very cool, especially the part when Roland had saved him from the room on fire. Snow found the story terribly sad; she remembered well the ghost’s voice from when she was under the curse. How long had he been there?

 

That same night, David asked Belle a favour she gladly accepted. With some help from her impish lover, she brought him the following morning a bag full of books. Seven of them had been found in a bookstore; they were called ‘The Dark Tower’ and told the story of Roland. The eighth had come from the ‘Classics’ section of the library and was full of dust. It was called ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. Through the stories of the two friends he had made in the mirrored maze, maybe he would find a way to help them.

 

One thing was certain; he wouldn’t forget them.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Epilogue

 

Cora opened her eyes and looked around her, recognising the room immediately. It was the maze.

 

“Ah, you are back already?”

 

Her heart jumped to her throat in hearing Erik’s voice. She turned and opened her hand to throw a spell at him before he could attack her.

 

… Nothing.

 

“It will not work this time, my dear, he said. You are not only visiting this time. You are dead and here to stay.”

“Then if I am really dead, what am I doing here?”

 

He stared at her with a funny face that seemed apologetic and yet condescending.

 

“Must I really explain?”

“… a curse killed me!”

 

She had realised this when dying. Her heart had been cursed to save Rumpelstiltskin’s and she knew there was only one other person who knew how to do it. She smiled in victory, a tear leaving her eye.

 

“At least I’ve won. I’ve made Snow White use dark magic. It will destroy her heart and she will bring her own family down with her.”

“Including your own daughter.”

 

That made her twitch. She was now vulnerable to her love for Regina. Her child.

 

“If you truly believe a single dark action made out of despair is enough to destroy her, you will be disappointed”, he said.

 

Slowly, he walked towards her and she walked away from him, step by step, now uncomfortable in being in the same room as him. She couldn’t help feeling scared, now that she was whole again, every feeling hit her like a tidal wave.

 

“She’s not so pure anymore, she answered. Her promise to be good is broken. She’ll never be the same.”

“ _Et alors?_ She has a wonderful daughter whose mission is to save people. She has a grandson who is brave and smart and not to mention her husband. David is a kind soul, Cora; men like him bring out the best out of people. I once let the love of my life go with a man like him. This family will pull through and may even make your daughter a part of it and a better person, now that you are out of the picture. One thing is certain: Snow White will recover… but you will not.”

“Wha…”

 

She hadn’t realised she had backed up all the way to the trap leading downstairs. She had avoided the hole David had made, but the trap was the Ghost’s best kept secret. With a simple push, Erik made her fall into the room on fire. She only had the time to see his eyes glow with malice before he closed the trap.

 

 

 

“ _I thought you had promised to never to that again._ ”

 

By Erik’s side, the ascended woman looked at the trap, uncertain if this action helped the Ghost earn his way out of his cursed state. He had sent Cora to hell, yes, but this time, he was not playing the part of the devil.

 

“I promised to never send _anyone else_ in there. Those were my exact words. I bend the rules instead of breaking them, just like you do, _ma chère._ ”

 

She had a small laugh.

 

“ _You are right. By these standards, you have improved greatly._ ”

 

For only answer, he bowed elegantly and offered her his arm to guide her to the entrance of her own level of existence. As he escorted the angel on her way up, this devil hoped that one day, he would be allowed to come visit.

 

Perhaps one day.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Two copyrights I had to add just in case. Erik belongs to Gaston Leroux and the Mother, otherwise known as Oma, comes from the Stargate franchise. There, all by bases are covered ;)


End file.
